Tuning Wars
"It's you. Your second string's off. Tune it up."
The words stung. Moral, cognitive, and musical dissonance fused into one turgid stream as the other harp players accused me of musical ineptitude. What follows is a light-hearted dramatic depiction of the internal struggle those words ignited at a kundi [harp] choir rehearsal in Bili, DR Congo—a struggle not uncommon in our line of work.
Characters
TWMM: The Western Musician in Me
TEM: The Ethnomusicologist in Me
THB: The Harp Band
WACO: What Actually Came Out, originally in a mixture of Lingala and Mono
Dialogue
TWMM: This sounds awful. Who tuned these instruments?
TEM: Hmm. Sounds like a new style. Wish I'd brought my tape recorder.
WACO: Hi.
THB: Glad you came.
TWMM: The second string. All you guys have tuned your second strings 1/2 step too low.
TEM: Hmm. I wonder what this different tuning implies for the vocal parts.
WACO: Shouldn't we all tune up?
THB: We did.
TWMM: Right. Then why do you sound so bad?
WACO: I still think we're not all on the same road.
THB: It's you. Your second string's off. Tune it up.
TWMM: What!? This is exactly how Punayima taught me. It's not ME, it's all of YOU!
TEM: Hmm. All of them seem to have agreed on the different tuning. Either they have a large tolerance for variation, or this is an alternate system.
WACO: I think Punayima tunes his the way I have mine tuned.
THB: [tolerant smiles]
WACO: No really, I think mine is tuned the way he tunes his. He IS our teacher, isn't he?
THB: Punayima's not here.
TWMM: I don't know if I can stand this for two hours.
TEM: I wish I had my tape recorder.
WACO: OK. I'll retune. Let's play.
The words stung. Moral, cognitive, and musical dissonance fused into one turgid stream as the other harp players accused me of musical ineptitude. What follows is a light-hearted dramatic depiction of the internal struggle those words ignited at a kundi [harp] choir rehearsal in Bili, DR Congo—a struggle not uncommon in our line of work.
Characters
TWMM: The Western Musician in Me
TEM: The Ethnomusicologist in Me
THB: The Harp Band
WACO: What Actually Came Out, originally in a mixture of Lingala and Mono
Dialogue
TWMM: This sounds awful. Who tuned these instruments?
TEM: Hmm. Sounds like a new style. Wish I'd brought my tape recorder.
WACO: Hi.
THB: Glad you came.
TWMM: The second string. All you guys have tuned your second strings 1/2 step too low.
TEM: Hmm. I wonder what this different tuning implies for the vocal parts.
WACO: Shouldn't we all tune up?
THB: We did.
TWMM: Right. Then why do you sound so bad?
WACO: I still think we're not all on the same road.
THB: It's you. Your second string's off. Tune it up.
TWMM: What!? This is exactly how Punayima taught me. It's not ME, it's all of YOU!
TEM: Hmm. All of them seem to have agreed on the different tuning. Either they have a large tolerance for variation, or this is an alternate system.
WACO: I think Punayima tunes his the way I have mine tuned.
THB: [tolerant smiles]
WACO: No really, I think mine is tuned the way he tunes his. He IS our teacher, isn't he?
THB: Punayima's not here.
TWMM: I don't know if I can stand this for two hours.
TEM: I wish I had my tape recorder.
WACO: OK. I'll retune. Let's play.